Achievement School District announces 9 new charter school partners for Memphis

Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal
Freedom Preparatory Academy sixth-grader Jermon White, 12, works on homework at the Whitehaven school. The charter school is in the former Lakeview Elementary. Freedom Prep is among nine charter companies to receive Achievement School District approval to take over more city schools in 2014.

The Commercial Appeal

The Achievement School District will authorize nine charter companies to take over more city schools in the fall of 2014.

Six are Memphis-based groups, but only two with histories of success: Promise Academy and Freedom Prep. Three others have national reputations: Green Dot, Scholar Academies, and 2012 Broad Prize winner Yes Prep.

The Houston-based Yes Prep's decision to set up shop here gives the nation another reason to watch the innovation in Memphis, said Nina Rees, president and CEO of National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, who called Monday's announcement "a great moment" in the history of charter schools.

"I don't think it gets any more high profile than what Memphis is doing," she said. "It's a recovery district with (ASD Supt. Chris) Barbic at the helm, inviting the best to come take this on."

ASD plans to announce in mid-December which schools will be taken over by charters. Half of the charters will take entire failing schools on Day One. Four others will phase in operations a grade at a time in existing inner-city schools.

"Barbic is looking for operators to put their money where their mouth is and take on the most challenging schools and populations, and turn the schools around," Rees said. "I applaud them for taking on this challenge."

The schools will be led by a mix of new and experienced leaders. Four of the local charters are startups, including Artesian Community School, Harambee (which means "come together" in Swahili), Memphis Rise Academy and MLK Prep. Leaders from three of these schools are finishing two-year fellowships, worth $300,000, through the Tennessee Charter School Incubator.

Memphian Bobby White is one of the fellows. As head of MLK Prep, the plan is that the former principal at Westside Middle will take over a high school in Frayser large enough to serve 600 students.

"The unrelenting support I have received from the incubator will enable me to fulfill my lifelong dream of opening a school to serve the community where I was born, raised and continue to be deeply connected," White said.

Jack Vuylsteke, also a fellow and former Teach for America corps member in St. Louis, will head Memphis Rise Academy, likely in Northeast Memphis where there are few charter schools. Rise Academy will start as a middle school and eventually serve students in grades 6-12. Stephen Ajani, also a fellow, will lead Harambee, a K-5 school, that will serve 200 children in an existing city school.

By state statute, the ASD is charged with turning around the schools performing in the bottom 5 percent; it has five years to get the students performing in the top 25 percent. Of the 83 schools statewide that meet the criteria, 68 are in Memphis.

Barbic, who founded Yes Prep and led the award-winning charter conglomerate in Houston for 10 years, was clear from the beginning that charters would play a significant role in the ASD portfolio. Between now and 2014, the number of ASD charters will triple to 15.

Applicants were evaluated on how they intend to "dramatically" improve student achievement, their organizational model, operations and financial plans.

"We set the bar high and have an objective, rigorous process because our kids and parents deserve the best schools in the country," Barbic said.

Last year, Tennessee was the ninth-fastest growing charter market in the nation based on the growth in Memphis. The city had 31 charter schools, including two reporting to the ASD, and a total enrollment of 7,415 students. For the school year starting Aug. 5, there will be 50 charter schools here — including eight new ASD charters — with a projected enrollment of 12,409, a 41 percent increase.

Monday morning at Freedom Prep, school was still in session in what used to be Lakeview Elementary in Whitehaven — nearly two weeks after the city schools closed for the summer.

"The ASD was attractive to us because it allows us the opportunity to serve more children," said Roblin Webb, school leader, "and hopefully in our existing community."

Freedom Prep moved to Lakeview midyear last year because it was running out of room. By this time next year, after it adds the first grade of its new high school, it will either need to move again or build.

Webb wants to run an elementary that would feed into the established middle school. The ASD is making no promises to any school leader about where they will serve.

In late June, ASD plans to announce the names of the Achievement Advisory Council, a volunteer group of citizens who will study the charters and recommend which Memphis communities they should serve. In mid-December, the ASD will announce the newest school pairings.

"They get facilities, and that is very attractive, but it's in exchange for results. If you are interested in turning schools around, Tennessee is the place to try to prove yourself under the ASD leadership."